Building Green With Concrete

Building green with concrete is becoming more popular because of all the
attention being given to sustainable construction these days. Using
recycled materials in the concrete mix is making the term "green
concrete" part of our everyday language in the concrete building
industry.

When most people think of concrete, they think of cement, sand,
aggregate (rocks), and water. What they don't know is most of (if not
all) these materials can be recycled or supplemented with other recycled
materials to make as good or in some cases better concrete. This newer "greener" concrete doesn't
deplete our natural resources like before and is a great way to build an
environmentally friendly home without compromising strength or beauty.

With new advanced concrete crushing equipment, old concrete can be
crushed and used as aggregate in new concrete mixes. Supplementary
cementitious materials like fly ash and slag are replacing some of the
cement content in the mix reducing the overall need to produce so much
of this material.

"Green" building with concrete means finding ways to design concrete
mixes using recycled materials that are as strong or stronger than
concrete mixes that use all new ingredients. Using recycled water,
crushed concrete aggregate, and supplementary cementitious materials
greatly reduces our carbon footprint and provides for a great
sustainable building material.

Since concrete can be used for so many areas in and around the
home like concrete walls, concrete patios, concrete driveways, concrete countertops, and
concrete floors, green building with concrete should be considered for
your next project.

Here are a few good reasons to build with concrete:

1. Most concrete is produced locally using local natural resources.

2. Concrete can be made using waste products from industrial plants that would otherwise end up in landfills.